New materials and new topologies are the key paths for future technological breakthroughs in power devices

Power semiconductors, as the core components of electronic devices for energy conversion and circuit control, have enormous potential for development in the automotive and industrial fields, and their demand has also skyrocketed.

Taking the automotive industry as an example, according to Strategy Analytics data, compared to traditional fuel vehicles, the proportion of power semiconductors used in pure electric vehicles is as high as 55%. In addition to a significant increase in usage, the value of single vehicle power semiconductors in new energy vehicles is also on the rise. A set of data from Infineon shows that the value of single vehicle power semiconductors in new energy vehicles is five times that of traditional fuel vehicles. The unstoppable trend of electrification and the demand space for both quantity and price have made the importance of power semiconductors increasingly prominent.

Previously, Ding Rongjun, an academician of the CAE Member, attended the "2023 China Automotive Semiconductor New Ecology Forum" held in Wuxi City and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Development and Application of Power Semiconductor Technology", which described the development history of power semiconductor, technical characteristics and applications of power devices, and technical trends of power semiconductor in the future.

The development of power devices has driven industrial transformation in the field of industry

Academician Ding Rongjun believes that power semiconductors are the CPUs of "electricity and electronics", and they are used whenever energy is transmitted. The era of microelectronics began with the invention of the world's first germanium based bipolar transistor by Bell Laboratories in 1947.

In the view of Academician Ding Rongjun, the development history of global high-speed rail is also a history of power semiconductor technology innovation and industrial progress. From rectifier diodes to thyristors, power electronics technology has emerged; The emergence of thyristors has promoted the advancement of rectifier locomotives towards phase controlled locomotive technology; From thyristor to GTO, the technological upgrade from DC drive to AC drive has been achieved; From GTO to IGBT, digital driving and control have been achieved, promoting the development of high-speed and heavy-duty technology in rail transit.

The earliest old-fashioned locomotives in our country actually used thyristors, which later evolved to diodes and now to IGBTs. The high-speed trains we see today, whether they are the 'Harmony' or the 'Revival', were born from the development and evolution of power devices. ”Academician Ding Rongjun stated.

Looking back at the development history of power devices, Academician Ding Rongjun believes that "from the discovery of germanium materials to the present, the development time of power devices is less than a century. However, with the driving force of application demand, power semiconductors have developed rapidly, leading to revolutionary breakthroughs in electronic technology and promoting industrial transformation in the entire industrial field

"But unlike digital chips, digital chips pursue the progressiveness of the manufacturing process, and often new products replace old products. In power semiconductors, whether diodes or IGBTs, each device has its own characteristics and application occasions, so it is difficult to say that the emergence of new devices can completely replace other devices, and each power device has its place of use. ”Academician Ding Rongjun stated.

IGBT is a representative product of the third technological revolution in power semiconductor devices

In the view of Academician Ding Rongjun, IGBT is a representative product of the third technological revolution in power semiconductor devices. The characteristics of IGBT are voltage driven, high input impedance, low driving current, fast switching frequency, high voltage resistance, and application range of 600V~6500V. It can be widely used in industries such as rail transit, smart grid, new energy, aerospace, ship drive, AC frequency conversion, wind power generation, motor transmission, and automobiles.

From the demand side, new energy vehicles mainly use 750V-1200V IGBT, with an annual demand of over 1 million units, showing explosive growth; Rail transit is the largest demand area for high-voltage IGBTs, with an annual demand of around 300000 units; The wind power inverters and photovoltaic inverters in the field of new energy mainly use 1200V-1700V IGBT M and H modules, with an annual demand of about 500000 units; The main applications of the power grid are 3300V welding and 4500V crimping IGBTs, with an annual demand of about tens of thousands of units.

Compared with the current development status of power semiconductors at home and abroad, Academician Ding Rongjun believes that "China has achieved technological breakthroughs in thyristor and IGCT from following and parallel to leading; IGBT has formed a complete technical system for chip design, wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, and has entered the international advanced level; In terms of third-generation semiconductor materials, SiC and GaN technologies have made rapid progress, but there is still a gap compared to the international advanced level, mainly due to cost reasons. At present, the price of SiC devices is still about four times that of silicon devices, and they only penetrate quickly in some scenarios that require high volume and efficiency. Therefore, SiC devices urgently need to reduce costs to accelerate their entry into more application scenarios. ”

New materials and new topologies are the key paths for future technological breakthroughs in power devices

The development of power device technology is driven by the inherent needs of "improving performance" and "reducing costs". Therefore, Academician Ding Rongjun believes that as Si based materials gradually approach their physical limits and Moore's Law approaches their efficiency limits, new materials and topologies will be the key path for future technological breakthroughs in power semiconductor devices. In the future, the technological evolution of power devices can be achieved from four directions: "new materials, new structures, new packaging, and intelligence".

Source: Hexun Network